This version of Prem Rawat's speech of April 19, 1977 has been heavily edited. A transcript closer to the original, though still edited to remove blatant speech errors, is posted here and was published in the Golden Age and one edited further to improve the English is posted here.

First of all, we have to understand that everything that has a beginning has an end to it. It seems obvious that this world has to come to an end. Just as other decades, other centuries, have come to an end, this has to come to an end. And we also have to understand one thing, that there are not very many human beings present in this world who are accepting the fact that this all has to come to an end. Nobody wants to understand that. Nobody wants to accept that. It's like, "Let's just go on." Is there any purpose? Is there really any reason? Or is it all just for nothing?

It is beginning to become obvious now that people don't learn. When everything is nice and cool and easy and calm, people just don't even care about it. But now, it's quite obvious that God must have miscalculated how many dinosaurs to make or somehow, in the process of evolution or whatever you have, there would be sufficient gas in this century for the people to use. Obviously He must have miscalculated because we are running out of gas. It seems to become bigger and bigger problem in our lives. And a lot of people, suddenly, are looking forward to a new kind of revolution.

Take energy. When you talk about energy, it's the kind of issue that only young people talked about. To other people it was like, "What kind of energy? It's all

the same.- But now it's a big issue in the sense of a need for something that can supply some kind of an energy for automobiles or what have you to run on People are looking for some kind of energy, but it will also have an end. Because I'm pretty surewhen some body discovered gasoline. he went. "This is it! Were never going to run out of fuel in our whole lives. This

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whole Earth is full of this stuff. And everything is great. Everything is fantastic!" But now it's quite obvious that people are starting to look to something else.

Well, the point I'm trying to make is. are those external forms of energy that we pursue really the aim and purpose of this life? What we pursue with so much dedication, what we pursue so staunchly in our lives, the different materialistic objects that man has completely dedicated and devoted himself to. is it really that? Is that the purpose? Is that the meaning of this life? Or is it something greater? Is it, in fact. something much more sincere. much more truthful?

There's a lot of different ways that things happen. And it's slowly becoming so obvious. Not that this energy crisis is going to bring the whole world to realization. I'm not trying to say that. I really doubt that. As a matter of fact, this might be another diversion for people. Because instead of trying to look within inside . I'm not saying that the energy within inside of you is going to power your automobile. Most definitely not. But the energy inside of you powers you. And what is the most important thing? You! Your own realization. The most important thing is that you realize what the purpose of being on this Earth is. And this is what we have to focus on.

Really, I'm not here to talk about the problems of this world. I'm here to talk about the solution. Because I believe the solution in itself is much stronger than the problem is. And problems always keep on coming and always keep on going. But the solution is always what a problem has to wait for before it can dissipate. And I sincerely believe that this world was not made for problems. therefore there aren't any problems. It's just so many simple solutions. What we have to look for now is the one solution that we have within inside of us.

I just want to say that it is so beautiful to be able to come together to understand something far greater, far more superior, something so fantastic, something so beautiful which the Lord Himself comes -- time and time again, on this Earth -- to reveal. I mean. there has to be something worthwhile for Lord to come again and again. You have to look at it that way. Christ came. There had to be a reason. Krishna came. There had to be a reason. Mohammed came. There had to be a reason. Ram came. There had to be a reason. And of course. logically, we can try to look at every reason why but we can't understand even one reason why God is there. We can't understand that yet. People are still working on that. And there's different theories, different scriptures, and different things being written about it. And you leave it to people and they keep writing more and more about it. More scriptures, more scriptures. and more scriptures. "Why is God there?"

And is not the question to ask. "Why is God there?" is not a question, because we're not supposed to

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ask it. We're just supposed to merge in that most beautiful Being that is there, that we realize in one way. You cannot just look around you and deny that some kind of a power. some kind of energy. exists. Of course, you can take two rivets and a piece of metal and rivet them together and they'll stand there. And they're there. They're maybe standing, but something can be taken away from them which will make it all crumple. And it's not the rivet. Yet it is 117 the rivet. And it's what we talk about as being omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent.

That power -- I mean, there are different concepts about It. People call It "God." So when Muslims call Him "Allah," does that mean that God doesn't exist or a power similar to God doesn't exist in their religion? Of course It exists. But they just call Him "Allah." They don't call Him "God." And when they talk in English and they want to refer to It. and you don't know what "Allah" means, they can say, "God." Because they know what the meaning of "God" is. It's the same thing in Hindi. They call Him "Bhagwan," "Ishwar." and different names.

What is God? What is that omnipresent power? What is that omniscient power? You almost feel as though because somebody says. "Oh. there is an omniscient power," you feel like there's eyes everywhere. But no. There is a power. And people have conceptualized it as "God," as "Allah." I mean, you can quite obviously see that it could have been vice versa, where

Muslims would have called Him "God" and we could have, in English, called Him "Allah." That would be quite simple and easy. And now, somebody can come along with a new name for a change. That won't affect it. Because we're talking about one universal Power that rules us all. that governs us all. But the question is, what is It?

It's a nice old simple thing to say: "Take the best words you have in the dictionary. Take the most powerful words you have in the dictionary. Take the best imagination you have and say. 'This is God.' " And people do that! "This is God." "God is beautiful." ""God is fantastic." "God is this." When you ask a little child, "Well, what is God?"

"Well, God made my mommy. And God is the One who made my daddy."

To him. that is the ultimate. But is that God? No. And somebody says, "Well. God is the thing that can destroy the whole world in one second." Is that God? Well, no You can just go on and go. "This is God. This is God. This is God."

But to me. God is an experience that can be experienced within inside of us all, because It's omnipresent. And God is very powerful and we can feel that power, because It's omnipotent. And that realization, that intimacy can be there, because He's omniscient.

And so. it is all possible. It is not like people's little "vault of religion," where they say, "All right. listen. I've got to get up at four o'clock in the morning and drive to

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work which is three hours away, and rest about an hour. and then it'll be eight o'clock. Then my factory opens and I've got to work all day long there and then have just a little time for lunch. And then I have to come back home. And all I can barely do is have my dinner and I have to go to sleep. And then Saturday is the only time I can spend with my family, and it is my obligation to family. And come Sunday, man, I've got to rest. I'm only human. So let me see. What can I do? Okay, so I'll make myself something that I trust and I'll call him God." Or whatever have you -- different names. "And I trust Him. And I love Him. And I know He's there. And I'll follow Him implicitly. I'll do whatever He wants me to do. anytime He wants me to do it. Whatever He wants me to do, I'll do it."

And that's it! You close the vault, lock it up, throw away the keys, and go on into your daily routine, on and on. without ever wondering, "Well, yeah, I'm talking about an experience, a complete experience, which is possible, which is feasible, in this lifetime. And yet. for something which I have already acknowledged is omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent, and for something I have said I'll do whatever He would tell me to do. and for something that I believe in and I love, is this only how far I've gone in realizing and believing and really knowing Him?" But that is that association that people lack that. no, we have to go one step further.

And it's not a matter where there has to be such a wall drawn between

us and that infinite power that we can never ever realize it. If that were true, then again, we have to ask ourselves this question, "Then why does a Perfect Master come here? What is the purpose of a Perfect Master? Why did Jesus come here? What did he tell John? What did he show John, that John, in his life, wrote about something which we now read and say. "Well, it was terrific. It was incredible!"

You have to look at it in two ways. If it were only after John met Jesus that he had time to write, then it is a different story. If you look at it that way, then John always knew what he wrote about and Jesus was irrelevant. But, no. After that contact. something happened. And after that thing happened, John experienced something which he then wrote about. The same thing has hap-

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pened again and again and again. Well, what is it? Do we ever wonder? Do we ever reason?

It reminds me of the example I used to give where somebody says. "Which way to Buckingham Palace?" And he sees big sign on the highway, "Buckingham Palace," and he parks his car right under that sign. And here comes the cop and he asks. "What are you doing parked in the middle of the highway?"

"Well I wanted to go to Buckingham Palace, and it says Buckingham Palace is right here. And so I am in Buckingham Palace. That's where I want to go. I lust can't find it."

Obviously, a lot of saints have come. a lot of Perfect Masters have come. and a lot of scriptures have been written. They point. They direct us towards something. "Look! There is God. Realize Him in your lifetime.

And you can do it. And it's possible."

If you go to the countryside, you can imagine how it is. Green grass, forests and beautiful trees bearing fruits. No buildings and no highways, of course. And not a beautiful scenery shot with electric wires running on the back of it. But just imagine the simple beauty everywhere that was given to us. And then man got spaced-out, got lost. A Perfect Master came to pull him back again. bring him to where he should be. to the purpose, the meaning. of life. And then, man gets spaced-out again and it's, bring him back again. He goes the other way and it's bring him back again. It's always like a little tug of war. And what about in this century? Of course, it's up to people to really understand all this.

What I want to say is that no matter what happens in this world you can

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have anything you want. That fantasy, that dream, that imagination of an Aladdin's lamp, is not an impossibility After all, somebody thought about it. didn't they? So when a person can think about something, I guess it has some root somewhere. Therefore it is possible somehow. somewhere.

And many people have experienced that that "Aladdin's lamp" in their life does exist. But you have to rub it for that "genie" to be able to come out and manifest whatever you want in this life.

If you really have a desire, as a human being, you can do whatever you want to do. You can become whatever you want to become. You want to become a millionaire? A lot of people are pursuing that in their lives and there are people who are millionaires, obviously. So they have become millionaires. And that "genie" will do that, too. But that's not the purpose of this "genie." That's not the purpose of that power that has been given to man in this world.

As individuals, the purpose of this is to really reunite with that Almighty, with that All-Graceful thing, and become one with It, and enjoy that power source, and enjoy the meaning of our life. Not some kind of a purpose that somebody tells us to enjoy, "Listen, kid, your purpose in life is to just sit in this house and do this and this and this." That has happened. People have just said, "Look. Listen! You do this and this and this and I'm going to keep on supplying you money." Or people say, "You get up there on that stage and you dance, boy. you hear? And you're gonna keep on living. And the day you stop that …" I mean, that even happens to people in their life. But that's really not the purpose. That's really not the goal.

And why is it important to know the goal of this world? Why is it important to know the goal of this human life? Its so that we can fulfill it It's so that we can accomplish it.

It is so wonderful to have that opportunity in this lifetime, now, via that Knowledge, through which we can fulfill, through which we can accomplish, the goal of this life. Because as I was saying, this "genie" can do a lot of things. I've seen a lot of things happen. I've seen a lot of people in a lot of different moods. I've seen what you would call the happiest in the saddest shape. And none of them are happy. It's not that if you become a king you become happy. And it's not that if you become a beggar you become happy. It is that you have a source of happiness that you can tap into. That is what makes you happy.

And so this whole ball game of happiness that people try to pursue in their lives, "Oh, yeah, this will make me happy. or that will make me happy" -- it just seems that that happiness, that answer that man has been looking for for such a long time, lies within him. That answer, that quest for going on and on and on into this world, lies within him, not outside. And maybe we should be smart enough to stop for a second, to pause for a second, and

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really say, "Hey! Wait a minute! This guy might be right." Because obviously nobody has tried that yet. And people who have, have had satisfaction. Because it's just very simple.

Look at the Romans, for instance. "Yes, more power. Power. Power and power and power." And everybody was pursuing power. For what? Do you think that there were people going out and slaying armies. fighting, killing, and making different kinds of schemes against other people to be sad? No. They thought. "Once we get the power we will be happy." And then. has it varied? The big Romans used to lie down on a little chair that curled on both ends, and they had a big basket of grapes and they picked one at a time and there were people fanning them and so on. Different luxuries.

Now we've got vibrating chairs. Instead of having cold grapes, now we've got Pepsi-Cola or Coca-Cola. Instead of having somebody to fan us, we've got a cold air conditioner and we turn that on. So that one point that pivots between all people. all races, all different centuries. all different times, hasn't changed yet. That is still the same. That quest is still the same. It's just changed from a guy sitting therewith a huge fan on the ceiling to a little modern unit that blows cold air. And it used to be, who has the fanciest chariot? And now this is the world of automobiles. But that true happiness, that sincere happiness -- did they have it?

All right. forget about them.

They're out. Whatever is left of them, we treasure because they're antique, not because they're very usable. So that's that. What about us? We have all these things. We have all the modern facilities in this world. Are we happy?

Man, for such a long time, has been traveling on the wrong path. I'm pretty sure that it's just going to happen like they say happened with the city of Atlantis. Now don't think that I'm trying to tell you there actually was a city of Atlantis because maybe a lot of people think there wasn't a city of Atlantis. and I don't want to get into that kind of quarreling. But let's look at that example. Isn't it quite feasible that there was a city of Atlantis. and that it got so advanced. it got so modern, that people within it got divided? Imagine a city of Atlantis -- completely modern. You can imagine huge towers, vacuum tubes, no noise, complete electronic systems like what you see in cartoons, no use of airplanes. You just go into those booths I used to talk about a long time ago. You take your American Express credit card, you go into something like a telephone booth, you put your American Express card in there. you dial the city and country you want to go to. present your little passport, and bingo, you get transferred from one place to another place.

And what happened to it? Well, obviously, some people believe that what happened to it was that people became divided. And there were some people who said, "Well, don't

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build this big laser." And there was a big thing and finally they used the laser. It just blew them out and there were huge tidal waves that sunk the whole city!

That pursuit -- we can get there! That is not an impossibility. But let us ask ourselves one simple question. What were people in the city of Atlantis trying to accomplish? What were they trying to do? What was happening? What was their goal? What was their trip? Was it, in fact. that somebody heard me talking about this incredible booth that you could take two credit cards -- one your passport and one your American Express -- and punch it? So that's what the motive and the purpose in their life became. And then they finally got this booth and that was the ultimate purpose of their life? No. Physical advances, physical achievements, can only benefit humans so much. And after that, they start backfiring at him.

But what I'm trying to say is let us understand what is the most important purpose in our lives. And by Guru Maharaj Grace. by the Grace, we are able and fortunate enough to be able to receive that blessing, to be able to receive that Knowledge. Because what is Knowledge? In our hearts, we know what Knowledge is. In terms of that power. What is it? What is it that is sustaining us? Guru Maharaj Ji reveals it to us so it is accessible.

Guru Maharaj Ji has taken that most incredible, infinite thing and bridged a gap, to us, so that we finite human beings can go back home. Guru Maharaj Ji is now showing us the path to come back home, to be able to go within and realize the most infinite beauty of this whole creation, so we can truly enjoy it by enjoying ourselves, who we are -- not externally, but internally -- inside of us. That power that makes everything stay the way it is.

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It is so beautiful that we have been given this chance, this opportunity.

Imagine it this way. You walk out of this hall tonight and you get home, go to bed, and all of a sudden you hear a knock on this door. And there's this little boy standing there. And he's got this "neat-o" little lamp. And he looks up to you with tiny little bright eyes, "Do you want the lamp of Aladdin?"

Of course, when everybody reads about that story -- Aladdin -- it throws them for a little surprise. They think, "Boy, how nice it would be! I'd rub it and I'd get all the candies in the world." Or whatever your favorite was when you were little kid. "Oh boy, wouldn't it be nice? I could have my own castle. I could have this. I could have that.- And what if somebody all of a sudden did that to you?

Who knows? Maybe Aladdin was a true story. Maybe you'll get a lamp of Aladdin. And then, that dream comes true.

But this is a similar situation here. In my life, when I used to hear about this Knowledge, when I used to hear satsang that Shri Maharaj Ji used to give, my ultimate dream was to . . Maybe at one point it was also Aladdin's lamp, but then more and more satsang started to happen. Satsang started to become a little more real to me. It was like, "Okay. Well, what is this Knowledge?" And I had my own imaginations, I had my own speculations. But I wanted this Knowledge. The reason I wanted this Knowledge is because I knew that without this Knowledge nothing existed. Everything was like incredible food in front of you, having no salt in it. It's like having honey without any sweetness in it. Would you like to have some honey without any sweetness in it? It would be kind of weird. Just gooey stuff, having no sweetness in it. But that is the way our life is if we don't accomplish the purpose.

What is the purpose?

Its like the example I've been giving -- like a big boat. It's a huge boat. And Guru Maharaj Ji's the captain of this boat. And he's saying, "Come! Come on this boat. I'll take you over this ocean. I'll take you over this rough water. You can never swim through this. This is full of sharks. This is full of crazy things.

And there's a lot of people on the dock: "Nah, it's okay." First of all, there's a lot of people who say. "Look! Mind your own business. I don't want to go to the other side. I'm happy as I am." Because to a lot of people, whatever they have is their happiness. "This is happiness. How could it possibly be any better? Look. All I ever wanted was a car. And all I ever wanted was a nice house. And all I ever wanted was a nice job. And all I ever wanted was a kid and a nice wife. And I have that. And I'm happy!"

Well, someday it's going to dawn on you that that's not it. And this is the opportunity to really look at it and realize that that true happiness is somewhere and that we really don't want to stay on this side of the dock. There is a lot more. We can have whatever we have and still have

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a lot more, have more of that experience. have more of that Love. And all we have to do is say, "Okay, take me. Take me across this ocean."

And this is not the first time I've given this example. Yes. I gave it a little bit of a different connotation. But in scriptures they have said, "Cross this incredible ocean. You have to cross this ocean." They talk about this ocean. And I'm pretty sure they don't mean Atlantic Ocean or Pacific Ocean. They don't mean that. And they always talk about this ocean, and say you'll drown in this ocean. And there's always been that.

And so in this world there's a lot of crazy things. And I'm not trying to say that we should try to lust kick everything that's crazy. You know, there's this plant, nettles. A lot of people must have seen it and experienced it. When you touch the leaves. it really gets you, and whatever you touch after you've touched nettles, starts itching right there. It feels like you're getting electric current.

But right next to those nettles grows a little plant. And every nettle plant I have seen, this other plant has been right next to it. And if you ever get stung by a nettle, if you touch a nettle accidentally, you look for this little plant right next to it. And you take that plant and you lust rub it on your fingers and it is completely like an antidote for it. It's right there and it's an antidote for it.

And so there's a lot of things in this world. Look for the antidote. That's what I said before. It's not the problems you want to look for, it's the solutions.

But the point is. all the problems are created from one problem. And therefore, if we can find the solution to that one problem -- and of course, this problem doesn't exist, and we also have to realize this It is our own immaculate imagination of, "Oh, we have to do this. Oh, we have to do this. I have to do that." And man just makes more and more problems for himself. And one problem gets him like a golf ball getting hit by the golf club. It's that one problem that finally narrows down and gets people, every one of them. If we can find a solution to that problem, then it's like instead of trying to just take the whole tree and pull every leaf, flower, branch and fruit from the tree, we just get rid of the roots. Then the whole tree, after a little while, will disappear.

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